


Two Rings on the High Seas

by Writerleft



Series: Comes Marching Home [69]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: 201 AG, Action, F/F, Honeymoon, Korrasami Week 2017, Romance, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 23:16:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12143244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerleft/pseuds/Writerleft
Summary: Korra nodded, keeping herself tense in case the situation changed. “Who are they?”“Pirates, I think.”“Oh yeah? Neat!"





	Two Rings on the High Seas

Korra leaned back, watching her wife smile as the sea air tore through her perfectly black hair. She'd thought about chartering a boat, making sure Asami could relax... but that wasn't Asami.  
Especially considering what they'd been writing about... Asami needed to feel active. Adventurous, even.  
But not patronized. She'd considered arranging a little trouble for them to run into, but there's no way Asami wouldn't figure it out.  
Besides, if the pat 48 years of her life were any indication, trouble would find her whether she looked for it or not.  
Asami smiled over at her, not saying anything, but reached over to take Korra's hand.  
The sun bore down on them, warm but not uncomfortably so. Korra wore a rare dress—she did so like watching Asami's glances at her legs—and the warmth against her skin was just so... so... was there a word for tired making? Probably... if she could just think about it...  
Seconds later—or hours, since the sun was in a much different place, Korra was startled awake by a sudden bank. She helped, hands and feet flailing for purchase. “What's happening?”  
“Trouble!” Asami shouted, steering heavily against their turn as a fireball arched toward them from a half-dozen other speedboats, closing in from port.  
Korra turned in her seat, ready to jump up, but Asami put a hand on her shoulder. “I've got this!”  
Well... so could she, but...  
Korra nodded, keeping herself tense in case the situation changed. “Who are they?”  
“Pirates, I think.”  
“Oh yeah? Neat!”  
Asami smirked. “With so much shipping being done by portal and airship now, sea lanes aren't policed like they used to be, and there's a lot of mercenary firebenders out there after the Phoenix Uprising.”  
“Well, these scalawags are gonna sleep with the fishes!”  
Her wife snorted. “That last one is a gangster thing, not a pirate thing.”  
“Well... aren't pirates just sea gangsters?”  
“Hold on!” Asami shouted, sending them into a tight serpentine to thread between a volley of fire blasts.   “Shit!”  
Asami rarely cursed outside her workshop, so Korra turned to see what she was cursing at. Another group of speedboats, right in their path. They were being herded. Definitely some military experience on their side.  
“Want me to punch a hole through?”  
Asami scanned the groups of boats bearing down on them, then nodded. “Get that group!”  
“Got it!” Korra said, ducking in to plant a kiss on her. “Love you.”  
“Love you too. Kick their butts.”  
Korra grinned, then leaped off the side, bending her ways smoothly into the water and keeping all her momentum, accelerating like a torpedo before bursting up with a wall of water, right in the pirates' way.  
One of the boats managed an impressively quick turn, while the other two smashed right into the water just as Korra froze it. One of them blew up, while the other shattered, leaving just enough debris for its survivors to float on.  
Korra rode the momentum of her attack up, glancing back to see how Asami was doing.  
She caught a glimpse of Asami's boat speeding through the gap she'd just made, then a tight pressure around her ankles, then electricity, then—  
  
*  
  
Asami's smirk at escaping faded, and a cold fear grew in her gut with each passing minute. She'd killed the engine once she was sure she wasn't being followed. Checked the boat for damage. And the diving equipment. And the wine. Radioed her position to whatever authorities could hear.  
It had nearly been an hour.  
Korra still wasn't back.  
The boat was way too small to pace in. Her radio transmissions hadn't gotten any replies.  
The next nearest civilization was still hours away.  
She bit a lip, swallowing the tightness in her throat. Mako had gotten separated from his wife, fending off a bunch of criminal separatists. Tsu Ying and Naoki had never gotten to say...  
No. No that wasn't happening. Korra was still alive. She could feel it. She would know, if the worst... she would know.  
But Korra wasn't moving, either.  
Asami restarted the engine, her fingers tight on the wheel.  
  
  
*  
  
Korra had been shocked, drugged, and stunned enough times in her life to know what coming back into consciousness felt like.  
She'd been captured. Once, she would've felt ashamed of that, but her research on past Avatars—particularly Aang—showed that it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. She kept her breathing slow and her eyes shut, inventorying her injuries (light) and her restraints (thorough). Arms and legs trussed up behind her, heavy manacles she could probably break, but not without strain and time. The floor beneath her was metal, and while she felt a gentle rocking that was probably the ocean and not her clearing head, it was a lot smoother than it had been in the speed boat—so this boat was much bigger.  
She slitted an eye open and saw that she had two guys guarding her—well, a guy and a gal, actually, but right now all they were was problems. More annoyingly, they were looking over what had been the contents of Korra's pockets—particularly a little box. A little empty box.  
“I don't get it,” the lady said. “What's she need a second ring for?”  
“I dunno,” the guy shrugged, and. Korra was suddenly painfully aware of its absence from her finger, and was almost ready to go Avatar State straight away. “Curious to see how much we can get for them. Maybe she's cheating, guy she was with is stealing her away from someone?”  
“Hey, you don't know it was a guy on that boat,” the lady said.  
The guy snorted. “Fumi, just 'cuz you like ladies, doesn't mean every lady does.”  
“More's the pity.”  
Korra laughed, startling them both.  
  
  
*  
  
  
Tadao frowned as his crewmen brought the captured speedboat up against the repurposed cargo ship that acted as their mobile base. The speedboat had gotten clean away, and just looking at it, it was clearly state of the art. “There was nobody aboard?” he asked again.  
“Yeah, I thought that was weird too, Captain,” Ryu said, climbing aboard. “All we found were some women's clothes draped across the seat.”  
Ryo handed the grey and maroon bundle over, and Tadao frowned. Why did that seem... familiar?  
Then he looked at the logo on the side of the speedboat, just clear in the fading light. “Oh shit,” he said.  
“Captain!” someone shouted. Fumi and Baz. Rushing toward him in a panic. “Captain, the prisoner woke up! She's—”  
All the lights on the ship went out.  
  
  
*  
  
  
The manacles were giving Korra a slightly harder time than she'd expected, but she'd metalbent them open just as everything went dark.  
She smiled, in the blackness of the pirate cell. Part of her wondered if she should kick back and let the rescue come to her—but no.  
Besides, she was a little embarrassed she'd gotten taken down by electric bolas, again, after all these years. These guys needed some payback.  
Korra kicked the door straight off its hinges, then stalked into the hall.  
  
  
*  
  
  
Firebenders.  
Every style of bending had its advantages and disadvantages, of course. Asami had practiced dealing with all of them. The best disadvantages, though, were the ones the benders didn't even think of.  
Use darkness against firebenders? Why, they'd just create a fire to light their way.    
Funny thing about holding the only light source in a dark space, though—it made you really easy to spot. And when the person stalking you was wearing a black wetsuit, she was almost invisible until she uncoiled  and took you straight to the ground.  
Unless, of course, she was busy taking down your non-bending buddies. Then all your firebending attacks were both easily avoided and fairly likely to hit your own crew.  
Asami snorted, walking away from her fifth, sixth, and seventh downed pirates. Firebenders.  
   
  
*  
  
   
“What do you mean, you can't get the intercom working?!” Tadao shouted, managing to keep the panic out of his voice but well aware that the intercom needed power. His technician had a flashlight in her mouth, uselessly fiddling with every knob and switch as if any of them could fix sabotage to their power supply. “Never mind. We can't fight this, we need to—”  
SMASH!!!  
A form with glowing eyes stepped onto the bridge. Her voice shook the floor beneath him. “You have something of mine.”  
Tadao's hand shook as he took the two rings out of his pocket, reaching weakly toward her. “P-please. Don't kill us. We didn't know who you were!”  
“And if I'd been anyone else?” Those glowing eyes narrowed as she snatched back the rings. “You're the captain?”  
He swallowed. Pirates often wound up with a violent end—there was at least some glory, perhaps, to being taken down by the Avatar herself. “Yes.”  
“Good,” the Avatar said, clutching his collar and dragging him after her.  
  
  
*  
   
  
Asami froze as the flashlight scanned along the wall opposite a hallway. It was bouncing slightly, and the circle cast on the wall grew lighter as whoever held it approached.  
Quietly, she hoisted herself up between the bulkheads, pressing feet and hands out to hold her against the ceiling. Nobody ever looked up—surprisingly, not even most airbenders.  
She kept her breathing regular, proud that her muscles burned but did not tremble as the pirates turned the corner, slowly approached. Probably she should let them pass, before...  
One of them was holding something long and straight, leveled at the hallway in front of them.  
These bastards had guns. In spite of every law, every safeguard Asami had lobbied to be put in place all over the world, somehow, the lowest of the low always managed, always managed to get their hands on them. How much blood had they spilled?  
She snarled as they passed beneath her. These ones wouldn't spill another drop.  
  
  
*  
  
  
Tadao sighed, lamenting his life decisions as he wriggled against the chunk of bulkhead wrapped around his waist. The Avatar hadn't explained herself when she'd tied him up with his own ship—maybe self-reflection was the idea? Or maybe she was going to leave him and his crew out here to die?  
A distant speedboat motor cut out suddenly. He couldn't see what was happening, but he nodded. A few of his brighter crew had tried to run while the Avatar was distracted—apparently she didn't like the idea.  
“Where is my wife?” a voice said, a shadow in the night before him.  
He swallowed. “I think she's catching a few of my crew.”  
“You're the captain, then?”  
He'd barely nodded before being slapped across the face.  
“That's for ruining our vacation.”  
Considering what these women were capable of, he'd take the slap as getting off easy.  
Then she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall beside him. “I suppose I'll keep you company until she gets back.”  
Tadao laughed. Once he started, he'd found he couldn't stop.     
  
*  
  
  
Korra alighted  the deck of the ship, having removed the engine from all the pirate speedboats, and the keys from her and Asami's. Her knees complained a little at her landing, but it had been a few hours of off-and-on action that she hadn't been expecting—a few aches and pains were to be expected, these days.  
“Hard day at work, darling?” Asami asked from beside the captain.  
Korra's breath caught, and she grinned, pulling the dark shape she couldn't see but would know anywhere into her. Their kiss was ferocious.  
Eventually, Korra had to come up for air. “Thanks for coming back for me.”  
Asami snorted. “You had it well in hand. I just didn't want you to have all the fun. Captain, how many crew did you have?”  
“Forty seven,” said their glum captive.  
“Hmm!” Asami said. “I took down eighteen. You?”  
“Sixteen...but I got the captain!”  
“You think he should count for three?”  
“Did you count the boat you blew up when we caught you?” the captain asked.  
“I hadn't!” Korra said, as Asami snapped, “stay out of it!”  
Korra chuckled, holding Asami's hands between hers. “Asami... I really love you.”  
She squeezed Korra's hands. “I love you too, dummy. Shouldn't we wrap this all up?”  
“Well... I kinda am?” Korra said, fishing in the pocket of her now-tattered dress. “So, today obviously didn't go as planned, for anybody. But I was kinda hoping... wait.”  
Korra got down on one knee, and opened her palm to reveal the ring she'd been hiding for weeks. “I want you to marry me.”  
“I...” Korra wished she could see Asami's face better than the dim starlight allowed. But that hair, that trembling voice... she knew what her expression must be. “Korra, we're married already.”  
“So what?” Korra said, her thumb running along Asami's palm, the ring still tucked inside her fingers. “It's like we told Yul-Ri—I'm not the woman you married, twenty four years ago. You're not the woman I married, either. I love you, Asami Sato, not one drop less than I did then. And you—this Asami, today's Asami—you deserve to know that.”  
Asami fell to her knees, not quite as deliberately as Korra had, and put her hands beside Korra's face. “Oh, you sweet, adorable...” she cried softly, unable to finish the sentence.  
Korra chuckled, nuzzling her head sideways into one of Asami's hands, letting her eyes close and just... enjoying this perfect moment, however imperfect their path toward it had been. “I was kinda hoping to get re-hitched at one of the first islands, and turn this vacation into our second honeymoon.”  
Asami laughed, still crying, pressing her forehead to Korra's. “So much for that,” she said.  
“I'm not so sure,” Korra replied, hoisting them both up to their feet. “Hey, Pirate Captain.”  
He coughed, shocked to be addressed. “Aah... yeah?”  
“As the captain of this vessel, by the law of the sea and all that, it's within your power to officiate a marriage, right?”  
“Korra!” Asami guffawed, clutching her arm for support.  
“Uh... I can't say as I've ever—”  
Korra metalbent his restraints just a tad tighter. Why had he thought she'd been dragging him around, anyway?  
“AAH! I mean, yes, yes of course.”  
Korra turned toward Asami, clasping each others' hands as they had on their way into the Spirit World, more than a quarter century ago. Except for the two fingers Korra kept curled up, holding the ring she'd fought to reclaim. “I still didn't get an answer from you, Sparks,” she said. “Will you make me the luckiest woman in the world, again?”  
“That's impossible,” Asami said, her voice still weak. “We can't both be the luckiest woman in the world, and there's no way you're luckier than me.”  
She found herself crying, too, there in the starlight, in a tattered dress opposite her wife's wetsuit, reaffirming their love before a criminal who'd tried to kill them earlier that day.  
It was perfect.  
  
  
 _Fanart courtesy of[crimson-carmellia](https://crimson-camellia.tumblr.com/post/174830111602/asami-scanned-the-groups-of-boats-bearing-down-on)_

**Author's Note:**

> If Korrasami week had been in a different order, I could have posted this yesterday on Talk Like A Pirate Day. 
> 
> We could have had it all. Alas.


End file.
